James River weekend, croakers, lots of rays, and a Jack russel

Took the kids out on the James, outta hunnington park, to blow some carbon out and get a a fresh fish dinner or two... Very agreeable conditions both days, Saturday, was the better of the 2 days, and the craokers were averaged sized, out of curiosity we dropped a few blood worms in some of tbe deepest areas and caught one at 11 inches, and another at close to 13 inches... Catch and release stripers on the south side of the river under the bridge a lll day and all night regardless of tide, the schoolies never quit biting, soft body, shad shaped lures, with pearl white out performing chartuese... Of course the stripers never bite like that during the season... My boy caught and landed a small Barricuda when throwing a metal spoon, never seen one in the James before.

The Jack Russel came when our lil dog took a kale hook thru the lip, stealing bait, of course it was when the kids and momma were off the boat and in the bathroom, thankfully the hook was all ready all the way thru and all I had to do was restrain the 18 pound terror and find the pliers...

It was a real treat to see so many cow nosed rays etc etc Saturday afternoon i had the kids convinced that we were surrounded by gangster sharks circling the boat in pairs! (when they swim near the surface the tips of both wings look identical to a sharks dorsal fin) Finally my boy had his polarized glasses on and could see the whole body in the murky water.

Sorry for the delayed report, been playing catch up, in closing let me add if your headed out, be sure to have all the legally required gear, and paperwork on hand, as there were 3 seperate law enforcement agencies in action over the weekend, and they were very proactive!! Saw one fella get checked putting the boat in by marine fisheries police, soon as he cleared the channel out the coast guard borded his boat... I fully believe in safety but it was a little ridiculous this weekend.

One last question, the James is so very very large, and I have misplaced my hotspots map, does any one have any general locations for good sized croakers/spot? I have caught a stray flounder or two in the past but never reliably enough to fish for them specifically. I know the pylons on the bridge hold stripers, but with out giving up any super secret spots, how's about a few tips?

Thank you all in advance!

One last first for the weekend trip, I hit a deer with the BOAT!! Of course he was dead, and floating about a foot under the surface of the water, but I felt us hit something semi solid, and when I lifted the prop up it had nasty old flesh hung on the prop and after we struck it rolled over and its hooves came out of the water

That is one interesting trip you had. I think the bridge is a good place for decent sized croaker but you catch the bigger ones drift fishing a piece of cut bait or squid. The flounder will hit that setup too.

thanks solseeker 2 kids and a jack russel, always make for interesting trips! Tenchi maybe a switch in bait might have got us on more of the citation size, but we stuck with bloodworms and shrimp, I know artificial lures produce a better class of fish, I,usually get bigger than average croakers by fishin structure, and dropp offs

I was hoping to get out this week and catch some decent size croaker for my dad..I seen a lot of boats around the span of the bridge I thought that they might be catching some good size croaker..I will probably try that area this week and see what I can do. 2 weeks ago they were all small fish..I wonder if the water temp is a bit high,,got to be in the low 80's

The temp was 78-80 through out the weekend, the lower james is never crystal clear, but it did seem to be dirty than normal, I do my best in 12-20 foot of water on the drift, when we land the first big one I try to drop the anchor, we got 2 good sized ones, but most were just average, too big to be bait

Your right about that jwas1, but shes not a he, at least not physically, but in her mind shes king kong!! she was originally my father in laws mid life crisis cure, but needless to say she plum wore him out, and at about 11 weeks old she came home with the kids, they said it was for just a visit, now 5 years later I think shes here to stay.